Railroad-tie plate



No. 625,884. Paten ted May 30, I899.

A. B. B. HARRIS.- BAILBGAD TIE PLATE.

(Application filed May 12, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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WITNESSES J M M 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER BUCHANAN BARRET HARRIS, OF BRISTOL, TENNESSEE.

RAlLROAD-TlE-PLA'I'E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters iPatent No. 625,884, dated May 30, 1899. Application filed May 12, 1898- Serial No. 680,500. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER BUCHANAN BARRET HARRIS, of Bristol, in the county of Sullivan and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Railroad- Tie Plates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of a very simple, cheap, and practical railroad-tie plate designed to be used between the railroad-tie and the base of the rail. Its object is to provide sucha tie-plate as will permit the railroadrails to be easily and quickly adjusted laterally to a new position on the tie to compensate for the wear on the inner side of the head of the rail, such as takes place from the grinding of the flange of the wheel thereagainst. This will in time involve too much increased space between the rails, or the rails themselves may spread apart from other causes. In either case they need to be adjusted closer together .to bring them to the proper gage.

My invention consists in a tie-plate having four spike holes or seats arranged in pairs, one pair of which is offset from the alinement of the other pair and the plate provided with means for fixedly anchoring it to the tie, so that when the plate is thus anchored to the tie the rail may be adjusted laterally by drawing the spikes from one pair of holes, shifting the rail laterally, and then driving the spikes in the other or offset pair of holes, as hereinafter fully described.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the tie-plate. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the rail applied to the same. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan "iew ofa modified form of plate.

In the drawings, A represents the tie-plate, which is formed with four spike-holes arranged in the four corners, as two diagonal pairs at a and two diagonal pairs (1 a. The width of the space between the-spike-holes a and a, as shown between the lines 05 and as, is just the width of the rail-base, and the width between the holes a and a, as shown between lines w 00', is just the same; but the pair of holes a a is offset from the alinement of the pair a a a distance equal to the distance between the lines 00 and m.

In the middle of each plate A or at any other desired place beneath the rail is one or more countersunk holes (9, designed to receive a flat-headed spike b, as shown in Fig. 3, which anchors the plate to the tie beneath. Instead of a round spike b flat ones may be used, in which case flat countersunk holes may be used, as shown at b in Fig. 4:. This spike b has a perfectly-flat head which is flush with the top of the plate A and which is covered by the base of therail when in place on the plate. When the plate is thus anchored to the tie by these spikes b and the rail is laid thereupon and is secured by two spikes S, driven through one pair of holes a a ,it will be seen that the rail will be firmly held with the side edges of its base in alinemeint with the lines a: and 0c of Fig. 1. Now if the lefthand side of the rail of Fig. 2 be the inside which has become worn so that the gage is too wide the spikes S are pulled out of the holes a a, the rail shifted laterally to the left till the edges of its base coincidewith the lines 00' m and then the spikes are driven in the other pair of holes a a, and the railis thus held in its new position without changing the position of the plate on the tie, which is held fixed by the central countersunk anchoragespikes b, and thus an easy, simple, and quick readjustment of gage may be obtained.

I am aware that it is not new to place a countersunk spike in a plate beneath a rail, and I make no claim to this feature alone; but it will be perceived that this feature is cor related to the offsetting pairs of spike-holes in that in driving the spikes the second time it prevents the plate from shifting and maintains the rail in its new position of corrected alinement to gage.

Asa modification of my invention 1 may make the plate A with subjacent integral spikes or pins, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, in the place of the countersunk hole I) and separate spike b. I may also instead of making two pairs of holes employ on one side spike-seats, as shown in Fig. 4, in which the side edge of the plate itself is made to form a spike-seat, as shown by dotted lines S coopcrating with the spike-hole a, while a notch or open slot 0. cooperates with the other spikeholes a in giving an offset alinement to the rail.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A railroad-tie plate having spike holes or seats arranged in two pairs, one pair offset to a different alinement from the other pair, and the holes or seats of each pair being separated a distance apart equal to the Width of the base of the rail, said plate being also formed with means for fixedly anchoring it to the tie independently of the spikes in the paired holes or seats substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A railroad-tie plate having spike holes or seats arranged in two pairs, one pair offset to a difierent alinement from the other pair, and one or more countersunk spike-holes centrally arranged to receive a spike under the rail-base substantially as and for the purpose described.

ALEXANDER BUCHANAN BARRET HARRIS.

Witnesses:

HUGH W. TAYLOR, BLAND E. BALLORD. 

